Tag Archives: caroline lucas

PMQs: Tim Farron asks “Question of the week” – Ed Balls signals four runs

By Paul Walter | Published 4th November 2011 - 7:53 pm

In my ever-earnest toil to prepare this review, this week I have been reviewing web sites which explain cricket umpire signals. I also checked the umpire signals for netball, American football and baseball.

There is no doubt about it. Ed Balls was signalling a four at Prime Ministers’ Questions. His hand was a bit lower than normal, but it would pass to signal a boundary at Morley Cricket Club.

For a change, I’m going to stand this review on its head this week and concentrate on questions from backbenchers, starting with Liberal Democrats.

Question of the week came from Tim Farron:

The world population

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Posted in Parliament, PMQs | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Opinion: Caroline Lucas is wrong

By Steve Bolter | Published 14th September 2011 - 3:43 pm

As a campaigner on environmental issues since the 1960s, I have admired the way Caroline Lucas has publicly championed green issues. However, while I am sad that the Lib Dems have not been able to implement all of their manifesto, I am even sadder that Caroline’s lust for power has overtaken her commitment to the environmental cause.

While the Green Party has played an important role in helping inform the public, it has only a very small proportion of councillors and just one UK MP. The Liberal Democrats, with their far greater number of councillors, their participation in the Coalition …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , | 23 Comments

LibLink: Chris Huhne – AV referendum: why progressives must unite to vote yes

By Nick Thornsby | Published 2nd May 2011 - 7:25 pm

On Sunday, Liberal Democrat energy secretary Chris Huhne joined the Green’s Caroline Lucas and Labour’s John Denham to pen a piece for the Observer, calling on all progressives in Britain to vote Yes in the Thursday’s referendum on the voting system. It garnered headlines on the day thanks to a paragraph critical of the Tories, but it actually makes some very sound points about why all those who see themselves as on the ‘left’ of British politics should be voting Yes (as, incidentally, did Will Hutton in the same newspaper on the same day).

Here’s a sample of what Huhne, …

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , , | 67 Comments

Everybody loves us Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Published 11th September 2010 - 5:35 pm

I blame the Tories. Ever since David Cameron became their leader, he’s been determined to ‘love-bomb’ the Lib Dems. Love-bombing is the ingenious tactic by which other parties claim to believe in enough Lib Dem policies without, y’know, actually being Lib Dems.

Labour leadership hopeful Ed Miliband was at it last month. Then earlier this week the Greens’ Caroline Lucas made her pitch.

And now it’s the turn of the continuing Liberal Party:

We appreciate over the last few weeks many LibDem Councillors and members have become increasingly uneasy about the coalition government.

The fact that LibDem MP’s will be

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , | 62 Comments

Opinion: Could low voter registration cost the Lib Dems seats?

By James Graham | Published 5th March 2010 - 2:10 pm

The Hansard Society’s latest Audit of Political Engagement has added to the view that there is likely to be another risible turnout at the impending General Election. The study finds that only 54% say they are certain to vote.

The Hansard Society have offered some ideas about how to boost turnout. They suggest that more should be done to target groups such as the ‘disenchanted and mistrustful’. Apparently, a quarter of adults, mostly young and working-class, fall into this category of voters who distrust politicians but not yet entirely hostile.

But a report from the Electoral Commission would suggest that efforts to get these …

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Posted in Election law, General Election, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Two new reports into online politics

By Mark Pack | Published 12th January 2010 - 3:10 pm

First up, there’s a report from the Hansard Society which has surveyed MPs and their use of the internet (“A study into how MPs use digital media to communicate with their constituents”):

Usage of internet by MPs - Hansard Society graph

(Click on image for full size version)

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Question Time – open thread, 28/05 #bbcqt

By Alex Foster | Published 28th May 2009 - 9:20 pm

Question Time returns to its previous time slot of 2240 this evening, and the BBC website tells us the panel will be:

Europe Minister Caroline Flint, Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Jo Swinson, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and French businessman Pierre-Yves Gerbeau.

In the last week before the European elections, the programme is billed as a Euro special from London.  If the politicos can avoid being booed off stage merely for being politicos, there are loads of interesting ways the debate can go.  Caroline vs Caroline; Greens vs Lib Dems on who has …

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Also tagged , , , , | 13 Comments